Ideas for self appraisals & performance evaluations

Written by johna simon| 13/05/2017

To provide a comprehensive performance review, employers may ask employees to complete a self-appraisal. This expanded process is a 360-degree review and includes feedback from the employee, co-workers, manager(s), and subordinates. Self-appraisals allow employees to have input for their performance reviews. In addition, self-appraisals prompt communication between employees and their managers, often correcting crucial communication gaps. If there is a glaring difference in the manager's review and the employee's review, the manager may adjust the review to balance both opinions.

Accomplishments

Discuss your accomplishments for the review period. These include projects completed, certifications, training, degrees achieved, promotions and awards. If your position has measurable goals, for example sales requirements, highlight the areas or months where you excelled. List degrees, training programs completed (both in-house and external) by the date achieved. Document your accomplishments throughout the review period, so you can easily provide examples.

Contributions

Highlight what you have contributed to the organisation. Contributions can be financial, cultural, educational and organizational. Examples of financial contribution are discovering a billing error, increasing sales or discovering a vendor with lower prices. A cultural contribution is more difficult to measure, but can be implementing a change that improves employee morale and decreases employee turnover, or writing a mission statement. Creating a training program for new hires is an example of an educational contribution, and can also be a cultural contribution.

Initiative

Initiative is an attribute easily overlooked by a busy manager. This includes any work you complete beyond the scope of your normal responsibilities. If you are the first to volunteer for a project, stay late at night or work weekends, include examples in your self-appraisal. If you consistently initiate process-improvement, discuss examples in detail, including the outcome of your changes and suggestions.

Teamwork

Performance reviews often include ratings on teamwork. This is another area where managers may not be fully aware of your contributions. If you consistently referee problems between your coworkers, note this. If your upbeat personality has a positive impact on those around you, make sure to discuss this in your self-appraisal.

Communication

Effective communication with your manager, co-workers, and subordinates is a vital part of your contribution to the organisation. Communication falls into two major areas, verbal and written. Communication measurements include consistency, accuracy, volume, effectiveness and timing. If you are a proactive communicator, updating your manager on your projects before they ask, provide examples in your self-appraisal.